High Maintenance Toenails

In the seven years that I've owned Dino, he's had blessedly low-maintenance feet. A trim of the hind hooves and your basic steel shoes on the front, and he's good to go. Until this year, he'd lost exactly two shoes in all the time I'd owned him. Once we got his Cushing's under control, he rarely came down with abscesses or other foot problems. 

And then we entered approximately Day 174 of Muddy Winter Hell, and he started throwing shoes like it was going out of style. 

Between the unrelenting wet weather and the fact that he was still in snow pads until April, Dino's shoes were tenuously attached to his feet and the slightest slip-and-grab on a muddy incline would cause his footwear to go flying. Case in point; our last ride at Rosedale Park was spent trotting and cantering over 7 miles of trails with nary a clanging loose shoe. We got home and as I jogged Dino across the lawn in-hand to get to the paddock, I watched his shoe (the fifth one to get lost in about as many weeks) go sailing through the air as rage filled my soul. 

My farrier is going to get a very nice gift from me the next time he comes out. 

We took off the snow pads (they were likely flexing and helping pop the shoes off so easily) and put Dino back in plain steel shoes, and I finally relented and admitted that he had perhaps become the kind of creature that needs to live in bell boots 24/7. Thanks to some bloggers who recommended that I try the pull-on gum boots to avoid rubs, Dino has (knock on wood) kept his shoes on for about two weeks now since we've started using the bells. That said, it also totally dried up, got slightly warmer, and the snow pads are gone, but at this point I'm not taking any chances, so bell boots it is!

And you've got to admit, the bell boot + DSB combo gives him a very stylish "Dressage Prince" kind of look, doesn't it?